


Off and Away

by ebbj9891



Series: In Quest Of Something [2]
Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, M/M, POV Gus (Queer as Folk), Parent-Child Relationship, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-16 22:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3505088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebbj9891/pseuds/ebbj9891
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gus was worried that his first day at school would be a scary-terrible-awful D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R. But with his daddy by his side, it turned out to be a scary-fun-awesome-weird D-E-L-I-G-H-T.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Off and Away

**Author's Note:**

> The inspiration for this story came from Emma Donoghue's book _Room_ , which I finished in one day because I couldn't put it down. Evidently the subject matter in this story is much, much, MUCH lighter!! I promise that this is not at all reminiscent of the subject matter in _Room_ \- in fact, I would describe this story as 'ridiculously fluffy'. What motivated me was that I loved the narration in _Room_. It finally inspired me to attempt writing from Gus' POV in his early years. So credit goes to Emma Donoghue for the inspiration/motivation... and some to Dr. Seuss, as well, as you'll soon see :)

Daddy's hair smells like pineapples today. It's never smelt like pineapples before. I almost think my nose might be tricking me, so I take another sniff as he carries me piggy-back through the school gates. Nope, my nose knows. I pat Daddy's shoulder and whisper, "Why does your hair smell like pineapple?"

"Because certain blonde tw-" Daddy pauses. I think he's thinking twice about using a bad word. "A certain blonde boyfriend by the name of Sunshine has terrible taste in shampoo."

I smack Daddy's arm. "Don't be mean about Jus."

"I'm not being mean," Daddy says, laughing. "I just don't like smelling like a juice-box."

Daddy says he's not being mean about Jus but he was about to call him a blonde T-W-something and he said Jus has terrible tastes. That sounds like being mean to me! I pull at Daddy's juice-box hair and scold him like moms do to me when I'm mean. "You shouldn't be mean about people you love. You love Jus, don't you?"

"You know I do," Daddy says, super quiet, like he's telling a secret that only the two of us should hear. I look at moms walking ahead and check to see if they heard Daddy's secret, but they're not listening. That's good. 

I don't know why Daddy wants it kept secret but oh well. All that matters is that he isn't mean to Jus. It's true that Jus is blonde but he's not a T-W-anything and I think he has good tastes in things. He always sends me nice presents and pretty pictures to go on my walls. Jus is super nice like that.

I wish Jus were here today. Today is a scary-awful-terrible D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R. That spells DISASTER. See how I know that? See how I can spell and know what the letters mean? See how I don't even need dumb school?

Moms say I need dumb school, only they swear it's not dumb. They tell me school will be fun and exciting and R-E-W-A-R-D-I-N-G. I think that moms might be white-lying about that. A white lie is what you tell when you don't want to upset someone's feelings, like when I tell my babysitter Mary that I like her cookies when really they taste not that great. I think that moms are trying to keep from upsetting my feelings. I think they know that school will be a scary-awful-terrible disaster, but they have to send me so they promise it will be fun-exciting-rewarding.

"You okay, Sonny Boy?" Daddy tugs on my leg a little. We're not outside school anymore, we're walking down a hall with colourful walls and banners. I'm too scared to read all of those words right now, so I ask Daddy to read them to me. He smiles and reads aloud, "Welcome to your first day of kindergarten! You're off and away."

Those are words from Dr. Seuss, who is my most very favourite writer. There are pictures of his characters on the banner. That's kind of nice. At least this dumb school has good tastes in books. Maybe they have more Dr. Seusses somewhere! I've loved Dr. Seuss the mostest since I can even remember. Jus and Daphne read it best to me. I miss reading Dr. Seusses with Jus and Daphne. They do silly voices and cuddle with me and it's the bestest kind of fun. It's not the same over the phone, which is how they read to me now. Sometimes when I get upset at night-time, moms let me call Jus so he can read to me. If Jus is busy at his job or with his paintings, I get to call Daphne. They make my upset feelings a billion times better.

My upset feelings are a billion times worse right now. Moms have found my classroom and it looks weird. I don't like it. I hide my face in Daddy's juice-box hair and wish for him to take me away.

He doesn't. Sometimes Daddy breaks the rules, like letting me stay up late or sneaking me chocolates, but not today. Today he is on Team Moms.

I don't like it much when Daddy is on Team Moms. I like it better when he's on Team Me.

"You must be the Peterson-Marcus family," says someone who is probably my scary teacher.

Instead of taking me far, far away, Daddy laughs and says, "What gave us away?"

Everyone laughs. Moms start talking to Scary Teacher about our 'family structure' and my 'social and emotional needs'. They use big words that I don't know yet and they spell out ones that I might know, but don't know the letters to. Like Mommy M says, "He's been having issues with A-N-X-I-E-T-Y lately."

Later when I'm home I'll get my dictionary that Uncle Ben gave to me and look up A-N-X-I-E-T-Y. Mommy M always thinks she can outsmart me, but I'll show her.

Scary Teacher actually doesn't sound so scary. She has a very friendly voice that's a little bit like Daphne's. I like Daphne's voice because it's always kind and sweet. I guess Scary Teacher isn't so bad because she sounds kinda the same. She's talking to Daddy about his advertising. I listen in and try to decide whether I might like her or not.

Then she pats my leg and says, "Gus, you must be very proud of your Daddy. It sounds like he has an important job."

I decide to take a look at her and see what she's like. I pull my face out of Daddy's juice-box hair and face up to Scary Teacher. She's actually not very scary whatsoever. She has long blonde hair (kinda like Jus') and really pretty jewelry that sparkles in the light (kind of like Mommy L's fancy stuff). She looks as very friendly as she sounds.

"I am proud of my Daddy," I say, clinging to him tighter. "He's very SIGNIFICANT at work."

"Significant," Not-So-Scary Teacher says, whistling. "That's a mighty big word, Gus."

"Gus loves working on his vocabulary," Mommy L explains with a big glowy smile. "He's always trying his best to learn new words, no matter how big they are."

"Well, that's wonderful." Not-So-Scary Teacher holds her hand out to me. "It's nice to meet you, Gus. My name is Miss Lisa."

"Miss Lisa," I say, only I don't take her hand. I don't wanna let go of Daddy yet. 

"Can I show you to your cubby?"

I'm a tiny bit excited for my cubby because it will be just mine and only mine. Do you know how many things get to be just mine and only mine these days? Not. Very. Many. J.R. is always putting her sticky-greedy-takey baby hands over everything. I have to hide my really important things so that she can't have them. Only J.R. doesn't get to go to school yet, so my cubby will be just mine and only mine and not hers.

Miss Lisa shows me to my cubby and it's ahhhhh-mazing. That's like amazing, only so much better. It has lots of colours and it says my name in big soft letters... except it doesn't say it quite right.

I pull on Daddy's juice-box hair and whisper, "It doesn't say Kinney."

"Well, legally, Gus-"

I give Mommy M my most upsettiest look. This isn't about LEGALLY. This is not a piece of paper to fill in for something SIGNIFICANT. This is my cubby and it's just mine and only mine and it should say all my names.

"Sorry," Mommy M says, raising her hands. "You're right. It should say Kinney."

"Thanks," Daddy says, looking at Mommy M with a weird kind of face. She shrugs and smiles at him. There's a word for that smile that Mommy L taught me once. I think it has something to do with sheep?

"Gus, can you spell Kinney for me?"

I look at Miss Lisa and she has a big sheet of the soft stickers. Miss Lisa is definitely not scary. She is definitely very friendly and super nice. I give her my best smile and say, "Kinney. K-I-N-N-E-Y. Kinney."

"K-I-N-N-E-Y," she says as she sticks the stickers to my cubby. Now it looks a billion times better. It even has my favourite colours! The letters are all green or purple or blue and they say Gus Peterson Marcus Kinney.

Sometimes I wish that my name would say Taylor too, but is that allowed? 

Miss Lisa is talking to moms and Daddy again. She is giving them instructions about today. Moms and Daddy have told me all about today, except I am still not sure about it. I think I'd rather be home, even if it means sharing my toys with sticky-greedy-takey J.R.

"We like to invite one parent to stay for the first day," Miss Lisa says, looking between moms and Daddy. "As you're all available, I ask that you let Gus make the choice. It's important that we give him ownership. It will go a long way towards easing his A-N-X-I-E-T-I-E-S."

I am super definitely looking that up in my dictionary this afternoon.

"The parents who don't get to stay will be invited to our orientation day. There's a morning tea with the principal and a big tour of our campus, so you can see where Gus is headed in the years to come. So don't worry - there's something for everyone to do."

"Okay," Mommy L says. Her voice sounds a little bit wobbly. Mommy L gets that way sometimes. "Gussy, honey, who would you like to-"

"Daddy." I squeeze him tight. "Daddy is staying. I want Daddy here."

Daddy looks surprised but happy. Moms laugh a little, and Mommy M says with a chuckle, "You'll soon find out that 'I want Daddy' are very important words to Gus."

"Daddy is very important to me," I say.

Everyone smiles at me. Mommy L's lip is a bit wobbly like her voice was and her eyes are all teary. Mommy M takes her hand and says in a quiet voice, "Let's leave the boys to it, Linds."

We all say lots of goodbyes. Moms promise to see me at the end of the day and they tell both of us to behave ourselves. Everyone is always telling Daddy to behave himself, only I don't see why because Daddy is always on good behaviour. Maybe it's like how I get in trouble for calling J.R. names, when really they don't understand how she's actually really and truly a sticky-greedy-takey baby. Only moms sound serious when they say that to me, but now they don't sound serious saying it to Daddy. They're all laughing about it. I guess that's one of those inside jokes? Daddy and Jus had to teach me about inside jokes because they always find weird things funny that I don't get. I hope one day I will - it's not fun being left out of funny things.

After goodbyes and hugs, moms leave and Miss Lisa goes to talk to the other kids who are arriving. Daddy asks if I want to meet them, but I really don't, so we stay at my cubby and fill it with things from my backpack.

"Sonny Boy," Daddy laughs as he rummages through the bottomest part of my backpack. "What's all of this?"

I give him my most serious look. "They're my toys and I need them."

He tips the backpack upside-down and pours all of my toys out onto the floor. Then he gives me a Mommy M kinda look and says, "Miss Lisa said that you're allowed two. So pick two."

"I want all of them."

"You can't have all of them. Pick two - one to keep with you, one to keep in your cubby."

Daddy is using his ABSOLUTE voice which means that there is ab-so-lutely no getting around him. He definitely means what he says, so I'll have to pick. I frown at Daddy and say, "I'll choose but you have to know that it's not very fair, Daddy."

"You knew about the two toys rule, Sonny Boy. Your moms told you last week when they went over the letter from Miss Lisa. Fair's fair: pick two."

I do my biggest HARRUMPH and start looking through my toys. Choosing is not easy - there's my trucks from Uncle Ted, my Superman from Uncle Mikey, my kitty-cat from Aunty Em, my Care Bear from Daphne, and my dragon from Daddy. Oh, and my teddy bear from Jus, which is extra-super-really special. It's like a teddy that he had when he was little, which he called Gus. That's how I got my name. The Gus teddy is one of my most favourite things in this whole universe.

"You hold onto Teddy Gus," I tell Daddy, using my very own absolute voice.

Daddy takes Teddy Gus and stares at him, then glances over his shoulder to check for Miss Lisa. Then he pulls a bit of a face at me and says, "Fine, just this once. Between you and me, okay?"

I nod and grin as he slips Teddy Gus inside his jacket pocket. Then I go back to choosing my two toys.

I choose my Care Bear for my cubby. It's green with a clover on it, which normally means good luck but for me means very best luck. That's what Daphne wrote in her card to me:  _Very best luck at school, Gus. I know that you'll be brilliant. Lots of love from Daphne xoxo!_ I think Care Bear will keep my cubby safe, plus it will keep me lucky at this scary-terrible-awful school.

The rest of the toys are hard to choose from. I almost choose Uncle Mikey's Superman, because Superman would keep me strong today. But I have Daddy for that, so I put the Superman back in my backpack. I like the kitty-cat, but she's sticky from J.R. trying to steal her, so away she goes. Also the trucks used to be my most favourite but they're kind of for babies, and now that I'm at school I need to be a big boy. That's what everyone keeps saying, so I guess I can't choose the trucks. 

That leaves me with the dragon. The dragon is my latest present from daddy - it's glittery red and snarling out gold flames. I absolutely love him so much. Plus choosing him will make Daddy happy, so that's that. I put the trucks away and zip up my backpack, then hold on tight to the dragon.

Daddy smiles at me. "Have you thought of a name for it yet?"

I think for a while. It reminds me a bit of Nanna Deb and Mommy M, but they're girls and I think that this dragon is a boy. He's super strong and very powerful with magic in him. He probably has tonnes of treasure and maybe he gobbles up enemies and other cool stuff. So I do my best thinking and come up with a perfect name for dragon. I clutch him to my chest (it makes me feel the safest and I think it makes the dragon feel safest too) and tell Daddy, "His name is Kinney the Great."

Daddy gets a look on his face that looks like melting. Then he pulls me into a big hug and whispers, "I love you, kiddo."

"I love you too," I whisper back. I'm so glad I chose Daddy for my first day. He makes school seem way less scary-terrible-awful.

*

When the bell rings, Miss Lisa starts singing a song to us. It's about sitting in a circle so we all sit in a circle. Some other kids start crying but I keep all my tears bottled up. I miss my moms and I even miss J.R. a little and I wish Jus was here... but crying isn't going to help any of that.  _No tears,_ I tell myself, in my most absolute voice.

As Miss Lisa keeps singing, the other kids stop crying. We all sit in our parents' laps in our big circle and talk about school. It kinda sounds fun. Maybe moms weren't white-lying about school. They white-lied about Toronto, but maybe not about this part of it. Maybe this part will be okay.

There's lots of fun activities for the morning. Daddy stays with me for all of them and so does Kinney the Great. I keep him in my front pocket, just like how Daddy has Teddy Gus in his. Together we play with blocks and puzzles, and we paint paintings (two for Jus, three for moms, and one for Nanna Deb), and we eat fruit. Daddy refuses to touch the pineapple because that would be PINEAPPLE OVERLOAD. He says it's all Jus' fault, but he says it in a not-mean, just-joking kind of voice. That's okay by me.

For morning storytime, Miss Lisa reads us  _The Lorax._ She doesn't do the voices as good as Jus or Daphne, only almost as good. The bestest part is when she pulls out puppets and passes them around. I get to have a Truffula tree puppet, which is really lots of fun. During reading Miss Lisa asks us to spell words. She asks Tom to spell 'trees' and Megan to spell 'shop'. I spell along in my head as they say the letters, even though those words are easy and I know them by heart. Then Miss Lisa looks at me and winks. "Gus, can you spell 'wonderful'?"

I grin at Miss Lisa. "Wonderful. W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L. Wonderful."

The second time I say the word, we say it together. I don't think she's saying it like it's from the book, I think she means it in a different way - like maybe she's saying that my spelling is wonderful. I think Miss Lisa is wonderful.

Daddy hugs me and whispers, "Clever boy."

I give him a kiss on the cheek and we go back to listening. 

At lunch-time, I don't want to sit with anyone other than Daddy. I like that Daddy doesn't try to make me. He and I find a spot just for us two in the book corner, where we can read and eat our lunches privately. Daddy gets a special grown-up lunch from Miss Lisa and he's really nice and he shares it with me. I let him have some of my lunch bag in return. We both laugh when it turns out that my juice-box is pineapple-banana. It really is pineapple overload today.

After lunch, everyone gets to play. Daddy piggy-backs me out to the playground and we sit in the sandbox together. Daddy doesn't look too pleased about the sand going in his shoes or on his jeans, so I tell him it's okay if he wants to sit on the grass. He ruffles my hair and says, "Thanks, kiddo."

Then he sits on the grass but on top of his jacket, because Daddy is super fussy about his clothes. Jus says he's PRECIOUS about them. Sometimes I also hear people say that Daddy is a LABEL QUEEN, but that's not in my dictionary so I don't really know what it means.

Daddy takes off his watch and puts it away with Teddy Gus. He also rolls up his sleeves, which I think is him being extra precious. Then he helps me build a castle for Kinney the Great. It gets almost as big as me! Daddy and I are decorating the highest tower when a girl comes over to us. She has that special kind of blonde hair that I think is called strawberry or maybe raspberry but I can't remember. Anyway, it's really long and very pretty. She shuffles her feet in the sand and says, "I like your dragon."

Daddy pokes me, which I think is his way of telling me to use my manners and say something. I hold Kinney the Great up to the light and explain, "See, he sparkles."

"That's so pretty!" The girl grins really big, kind of like Jus. "I have a dragon, too."

She pulls one out from behind her back. It's the same as mine, only blue! Instead of glitter it has gems all over it, which is really super cool. She pets it lovingly and says, "Mine is called Sapphire. I called her that not just because she's blue but also to be like me - my name is Ruby."

Daddy pokes me again. I smile back at Ruby and say, "Hi, I'm Gus."

She waves at me a little. I think maybe she's shy like me. I think Daddy notices it too, because he pokes me _again._ I step aside to show Ruby the castle. "Do you like it?"

Ruby grins. "Yeah, it's so cool. I saw you making it while I was on the slide."

I look over to the slide but it's empty. "Where's your parent?"

Ruby swallows like she's trying to bottle up her tears. "My moms had to work."

"You have two moms? I have two moms too!"

This morning when all the parents were coming in all I saw was moms and dads in pairs. Daddy said something a little mean under his breath about Noah's Ark, except he said a **_really_** bad word in the middle. I was worried that nobody else in this whole scary-terrible-awful school would have two moms like I do. This seems like a RARE OPPORTUNITY. I think Ruby thinks so too.

I try to use my very best manners as I ask her, "Do you want to play with me today, Ruby?"

She grins and nods very quickly. I look at Daddy and check with him if it's okay. He says yes and says hello to Ruby. She introduces herself using ahhhhh-mazing manners, like the kind that moms wish I had. Daddy uses his nicest manners back and says that she can call him Brian. Daddy seems to like her, which gives me an idea. "Do you want to borrow my daddy as your parent today? Then you wouldn't be on your own."

Ruby's face lights up really bright and really pretty. She looks at Daddy and then at me, then back and forth as she asks, "Is that okay?"

"That's okay," Daddy says, because he's the bestest that there is. 

Ruby and I sit down in the sand and start working on a brand new tower together. She tells me all about her moms and I tell her all about mine. When I say that I just moved to Toronto, Ruby offers to help me get used to it. I kind of like that idea. Moms seem really excited about Toronto and I'd like to feel that way too. So I say to Ruby that it's a good idea and she promises that I'll love it. I think maybe she's right, because we both love dragons and sandcastles and lots of other things the same. I tell her about my whole family and she listens no matter how long I talk, which is nice. She gets excited about Jus living in New York and says that she wants to go there one day. I told her that Daddy was there just yesterday and Ruby gets really mega-excited. Daddy tells her all about New York and how great it is. It kinda sounds like he loves New York as much as he loves Jus, only that's impossible because he loves Jus more than anything except for me.

"Is Jus your greatlove?" Ruby asks, using a word that I've never heard before.

Daddy laughs a little and shrugs, but before he can answer proper I butt in and ask, "What's a GREATLOVE?"

"A greatlove," Ruby explains, super seriously, "Is your person. Like the person you want to be with and who means the most to you. My moms are greatloves."

"Oh, then Daddy and Jus are greatloves." I smile at Daddy. He's laughing a little and even looks a bit pink, but I know that it's the truth. I definitely know that it's extra-super-really true when he grins at me. I love it when Daddy grins like that. It's not a sunshine grin like Jus', but it's lots the same. I think it's more like starlight, all sparkly and firey and magical.

"Congratulations," Ruby says, still super seriously. "It's wonderful to find your greatlove."

"Thanks," Daddy says, and he gives her his starlight smile.

Then the bell rings and it's back to school, only now it doesn't seem so scary-terrible-awful. I pick up Sapphire and hand her to Ruby, then pick up Kinney the Great and shake the sand off of him. Ruby holds out her hand to me and I grab hold of it. She still looks a little nervous, so I look at Daddy and say in my absolute voice, "Daddy, you hold Ruby's hand."

He smiles at me with lots of pride. That's my most favourite way for Daddy to look at me. I smile back. He takes Ruby's hand and we walk together back to our classroom. This afternoon, Miss Lisa promised more storytime and more painting and more songs. All of that sounds pretty okay to me. I was more upset about tomorrow because even though Daddy will still be in Toronto, he won't be able to come to school with me except to drop me off. Except now I have Ruby, so maybe tomorrow will be good after all. To be one billion percent honest, today has actually been pretty good. I guess I'd call it scary-fun-awesome-weird, but overall, it's been a D-E-L-I-G-H-T. Yep, when I add it all up, I reckon that today has been pretty delighftul.

As we sit down for storytime, it's another Dr. Seuss. I sit in Daddy's lap but also hold Ruby's hand so that she doesn't feel alone. She takes Kinney the Great and Sapphire and puts them on the mat together, so now we all have someone. As Miss Lisa starts reading, I remember the words from when I last heard it. Jus read it to me over the phone after I first arrived in Toronto. He read it three times until all my scared tears stopped, so I really know it by heart now. I listen to Miss Lisa and read along in my own head, where the words sound the loudest and best: 

_Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!_

**The End**

**Author's Note:**

> I promise that the seventh chapter of _Scathed_ isn't too far away! I was briefly stolen away by this plot bunny and decided to run with it, especially since I was craving something fluffier. Feedback is always truly appreciated, especially when I'm trying something a bit different! So I'd honestly love to hear your thoughts on this :)


End file.
